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[banished]

It'd also be cool if we could come up with "regional best practices" like freeway/major/minor/primary conventions. It looks like the country as a whole is going to have a hard time picking something that satisfies everyone

I certainly don't want to snow on anyone's effort to advance the cause, but I've been at this since Sep '09 (lifer alert!), been fairly involved in the forums, attended the Palo Alto Meetup...and am convinced a single standard is unobtainable at a national level, and unlikely at a regional level. Why? Here's a few examples:

1. New AMs request unlocks and those that can unlock it, do, leaving the new AM to do what they want without having read the wikis. It's even more disconcerting when the road is in your local area (where you live) and it's an AM from outside your area. As a level 4 I can assure you that if you edit in another AM's assigned area, even if you were editing there before they could even spell "Waze," they can get persnickety. There's no pride of ownership allowed in this editing system, but we all have it to varying degrees.

2. It is possible to edit maps within a mile of anywhere you drive, so an unregistered user can edit and most certainly have not read the wikis.

3. The wikis aren't written by Waze, but by motivated users such as ourselves. As such, they cannot be seen as rules, but as guidelines or "best practices." The result is you will always be trying to convince people to follow the guidelines or "best practices," but ultimately they are not required and cannot be forced to do so.

4. Agreement at the Meetup to use hyphens in road names (e.g., US-52 vs. US Hwy 52) morphed afterwards to, "We'll do it when Waze fixes it so the new syntax doesn't break the shields."

5. Agreement at the Meetup to use slashes to separate concurrent road names instead of the TTS understandable comma (e.g., US-52 / US-102 vs. US-52, US-102) based on Waze stating they'll change TTS behavior to pause on a slash the same way it does on a comma, morphed afterwards to, "We'll use slashes even if it does break TTS understandability." (Yes, Sketch, I know how much you like, nay, LOVE commas! )

Note that 4 and 5 are both predicated on things that have not been implemented by Waze and it is uncertain when they will get to it. I'm onboard with the US-xx and comma format now. I'll be onboard with the slashes when Waze implements the TTS delay. (NOTE: TTS comes from a 3rd party, so Waze has to submit the change request to them.)

I've have come to accept that this is just the way things are. All said, I am no longer certain a national, one-size-fits-all standard is even desirable, let alone obtainable. There's too many variations at the state level.

The good news is that we are not that awfully far from a standard; there's just a few devilish details around which there are infinite and intense circular discussions. I could accept the slash format to separate concurrent road names now, before Waze actually implements it at some unknown future date, but cannot bring myself to accept the "Hwy" format.

[R4CLucky14]

It'd also be cool if we could come up with "regional best practices" like freeway/major/minor/primary conventions. It looks like the country as a whole is going to have a hard time picking something that satisfies everyone

I certainly don't want to snow on anyone's effort to advance the cause, but I've been at this since Sep '09 (lifer alert!), been fairly involved in the forums, attended the Palo Alto Meetup...and am convinced a single standard is unobtainable at a national level, and unlikely at a regional level. Why? Here's a few examples:

1. New AMs request unlocks and those that can unlock it, do, leaving the new AM to do what they want without having read the wikis. It's even more disconcerting when the road is in your local area (where you live) and it's an AM from outside your area. As a level 4 I can assure you that if you edit in another AM's assigned area, even if you were editing there before they could even spell "Waze," they can get persnickety. There's no pride of ownership allowed in this editing system, but we all have it to varying degrees.

I can totally agree with that. After working hours on these maps, I would be near furious if someone messed up something I already fixed, since I'm getting a new found pride for TDOT. But I would get over it, attempt to contact said person, and get off on a good foot. Many hands make less work.

2. It is possible to edit maps within a mile of anywhere you drive, so an unregistered user can edit and most certainly have not read the wikis.

I believe this is a great feature, but also a terrible problem. In more mature areas, I really think permissions need to be cracked down, whereas where I am (nothing but basemap imports), this needs to be even more open.

I almost think the more mature areas should be built on a hierarchy to keep AM's organized. But I'm not in a more mature area, so it doesn't affect me too much.

3. The wikis aren't written by Waze, but by motivated users such as ourselves. As such, they cannot be seen as rules, but as guidelines or "best practices." The result is you will always be trying to convince people to follow the guidelines or "best practices," but ultimately they are not required and cannot be forced to do so.

I've have come to accept that this is just the way things are. All said, I am no longer certain a national, one-size-fits-all standard is even desirable, let alone obtainable. There's too many variations at the state level.

The good news is that we are not that awfully far from a standard; there's just a few devilish details around which there are infinite and intense circular discussions. I could accept the slash format to separate concurrent road names now, before Waze actually implements it at some unknown future date, but cannot bring myself to accept the "Hwy" format.

[/quote]

Each State tends to have it's own way to build roads from the roads I have driven and seen (but I've only driven on the Eastern Seaboard, north and south, so . . . ). After the requirements/recommendations from the DOT, states can easily become nitpicky about style and format.

We have a pretty good national guideline, and it probably doesn't need much improvement. As problems become more area-specific, you need to expand on the standard, adopting a regional guideline that expands on the national guidelines. After that, then you need state guidelines that expands on the regional guidelines, if need be.

I guess what I am saying is that we should have a National Guideline, but if one size can't fit all, then we should have Regional Guidelines. And if there is a need of more specification, then State Guidelines could definitely emerge, but only under (not against) current regional and national guidelines.

Am I making sense?

[jasonh300]

Just a quick hello to everyone. I'm a new Area Manager, helping out in Metro New Orleans, south LA (Houma, Port Fourchon, Grand Isle), Baton Rouge, and a small chunk of central LA near Marksville. Let me know if I can help or learn anything from all of the "lifers" here. LOL

Welcome to Waze. Per our communications yesterday, I"m sure you'll be a valuable asset to Waze and the local Wazer community.

I'm especially glad to see that you're interested in working on the areas down the bayou. I'm sure the entirety of South Lafourche Parish is untouched basemap. I recall now that I saw you drew in the new LA Hwy 1 Expressway down to Port Fourchon. I had gotten a couple of emails asking for that to be added and when I went to check it out, it was already there! (Good thing too because I haven't been down there in 3-4 years and can't picture in my head how they got that expressway in down there...gonna have to take a ride one day.)

[PaintManNO]

Well if you decide to take a ride to the end of the earth down here in Port Fourchon, it'll cost $2.50 for the nice new expressway. That was one of my first priorities since I work down here 7 on/7 off, and Waze goes a little batty when you're driving through swampland without a road for 9 miles in the direction you're traveling.

I've also been working in Baton Rouge, which appears to need quite a bit of TLC. And don't worry, I lived there for many years so I know my way around. I noticed that lots of the roads in Ascension Parish appear to have come from base maps, but have 3 or 4 digit numbers as the main street name, with the real street name as the alternate. Sketch, please let me know if you have any guidelines or suggestions for BR.

Sorry it took so long to respond, I had surgery recently, plus I'm learning how to best navigate the forums.

Eddie

[kwag4]

I wanted to introduce myself. I prefer to withold my name, but you can call me kwag4. :)

I decided to become an Area Manager for the Fort Myers/Lehigh Acres area (I know palmerit is involved in this area too), because I know the area like the back of my hand, and figured I'd make that knowledge useful. I am not new to map editing, and am great at coming up with good (but sometimes too complex-I'm working on it and getting better) solutions to map problems. I love a challenge, and hope to become more involved in the massive community that is Waze.

[sketch]

4. Agreement at the Meetup to use hyphens in road names (e.g., US-52 vs. US Hwy 52) morphed afterwards to, "We'll do it when Waze fixes it so the new syntax doesn't break the shields."

5. Agreement at the Meetup to use slashes to separate concurrent road names instead of the TTS understandable comma (e.g., US-52 / US-102 vs. US-52, US-102) based on Waze stating they'll change TTS behavior to pause on a slash the same way it does on a comma, morphed afterwards to, "We'll use slashes even if it does break TTS understandability." (Yes, Sketch, I know how much you like, nay, LOVE commas! )

Note that 4 and 5 are both predicated on things that have not been implemented by Waze and it is uncertain when they will get to it. I'm onboard with the US-xx and comma format now. I'll be onboard with the slashes when Waze implements the TTS delay. (NOTE: TTS comes from a 3rd party, so Waze has to submit the change request to them.)

I've have come to accept that this is just the way things are. All said, I am no longer certain a national, one-size-fits-all standard is even desirable, let alone obtainable. There's too many variations at the state level.

The good news is that we are not that awfully far from a standard; there's just a few devilish details around which there are infinite and intense circular discussions. I could accept the slash format to separate concurrent road names now, before Waze actually implements it at some unknown future date, but cannot bring myself to accept the "Hwy" format.

I'm with you on US-xx also. I've tested a somewhat significant section of US-90 with it, but I don't get down there much, so I haven't been able to test it.

If I recall correctly, we can actually get all the US Hwy xx changed to US-xx through staff intervention, by request. We can also then get shields added manually, also by request. I haven't requested this yet, but that's mostly out of laziness. I see no reason not to move forward with this.

As for the slashes, well, I guess I'll just keep on waiting!

[sketch]

Well if you decide to take a ride to the end of the earth down here in Port Fourchon, it'll cost $2.50 for the nice new expressway. That was one of my first priorities since I work down here 7 on/7 off, and Waze goes a little batty when you're driving through swampland without a road for 9 miles in the direction you're traveling.

I've also been working in Baton Rouge, which appears to need quite a bit of TLC. And don't worry, I lived there for many years so I know my way around. I noticed that lots of the roads in Ascension Parish appear to have come from base maps, but have 3 or 4 digit numbers as the main street name, with the real street name as the alternate. Sketch, please let me know if you have any guidelines or suggestions for BR.

Haha, my family has a camp down in Pointe Fourchon, so I know the area pretty well (not that there are that many roads to know ). Haven't been down there in a long time, though, so I'm glad you got the chance to add the expressway in. It's a hell of a sight after driving LA-1 for fifteen years.

As for Baton Rouge, there's a lot to do there. Glad you're here to help. I've gotten some of it together -- I-110 wasn't functional past exit 1 until a couple months ago, and Florida Blvd (?) was an absolute mess until recently -- but there's a lot of messed up directionality and mistyped roads (thoroughfares called "streets") that remain.

As for those numbered roads in Gonzales etc., the alt name is almost always the correct name. I've pretty much just been putting them straight into the regular Name field.